1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recorder control apparatus (television receiver) that controls one or more recorders.
2. Description of the Related Art
There exist methods of immediately recording a program that is being broadcast (hereinafter, to be referred to as “immediate recording”). Immediate recording is often used when the user is temporarily called away while watching a program, for instance. Consequently, being able to perform one-touch recording on an external recorder or built-in recorder using the television receiver's remote controller (or an equally simple method) is convenient and desirable. In fact, there exist systems composed of a television receiver and a recorder that realize such a one-touch immediate recording method.
There are systems in which the television receiver and the recorder are connected with an HDMI cable, and transmission and reception of device attribute information and control signals is realized using DDC and CEC. Note that HDMI stands for High Definition Multimedia Interface, DDC stands for Display Data Channel, and CEC stands for Consumer Electronics Control. With such systems, the television receiver activates the connected recorder when the user instructs immediate recording using the television receiver's remote controller, enabling the content of a broadcast program or the like to be recorded.
There are methods of immediate recording where a recording period is designated in minute units or program units and recording is performed for the designated period, and methods where recording is performed without providing a period. The former method may result in a portion of program content not being recorded (hereinafter, referred to as “unrecorded content”), since recording stops when the designated period elapses. The latter method is superior to the former method in terms of reducing unrecorded content.
In recent years, more high-definition programs are being produced and television screens are increasing in size, leading to an increase the amount of recording done at a high data rate. Given this situation, immediate recording may be forcibly terminated due to restrictions such as insufficient storage capacity in the recorder, giving rise again to the possibility of unrecorded content existing even cases where a recording period is not designated.
Television receivers provided with a plurality of HDMI terminals are now appearing, making it likely that we will see more cases of television receivers with a plurality of recorders connected thereto in the future. This system allows the occurrence of unrecorded content due to insufficient storage capacity to be eliminated, depending on the recording destination selected when performing immediate recording. That is, the possibility of unrecorded content arising can be reduced by being able to appropriately select a recorder capable of recording for the longest period from the plurality of connected recorders.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-54022 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-339696 are given as examples of conventional technology that relates to this. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-54022 proposes a method in a system constituted by a plurality of recorders and a television receiver, whereby a recorder to perform reserved recording is selected based on priorities set for the recorders by the user and state information acquired from each recorder. Note that state information refers to information such as whether or not recording is currently being performed, whether or not a storage medium is attached thereto, and the storage capacity of the storage medium. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-339696 proposes a recording method in a system constituted by a plurality of recorders and a television receiver, whereby the program is divided and then recorded in the case where none of the recorders are capable of independently recording the desired program.
However, these proposed recording methods assume reserved recording with a definite recording period, and do not take into consideration an optimal recording method for immediate recording performed without providing a recording period.